Thursday, March 30, 2017

Badge Planning Sheet

A skill we are working on with our girls is planning. It's a skill that is very beneficial in life. Take the big picture and break it down into smaller steps and you won't feel so overwhelmed when it comes to tackling the task at hand. It also helps things flow more easily and relieves some anxiety and stress.

Our troop have begun to plan their own meetings. We gave them the task of providing us a list of activities they would be completing and supplies they need. Easy enough, I thought. After a year of getting plans that took quite a bit of my time to decipher and going back and forth on what requirements were missed, I decided I needed to share some secrets on planning. It will save both them and me time in the long run.

For years, when I was planning meetings I had just broken it down and typed it up and within a matter of 30 minutes or less... I had a plan that worked wonderfully. It also comes in handy when you are sick or have a family emergency and someone else has to step up and lead the meeting in your absence. Yep. Life happens!

This is the way it works... You can save the Blank Planning Sheet (listed below). Update the header and your badge/patch/activity will appear on every page. Type in the name of the badge/patch, date, who is leading, and the steps.

For each step, you have a row in the table. List the requirement number, requirement description, activity with instructions, estimated time (if you want... I do this to make sure I have enough and not too much planned for the length of the meeting), Leader, and Supplies List.

Why each column? Requirement #: I list this, so I can make sure I have all my steps done. If you are splitting a badge across a couple meetings, this will save you so much time. You can reference both meeting outlines and make sure you have all of them covered.Requirement Description: I list this piece of information so I can quickly reference why we are doing what we're doing when we're doing it. Yes. I know they are listed above, but sometimes you have multiple pages and if you are fortunate, you can hand a page to someone else to lead. They have all the information about the activity they need.

Activity: This is self-explanatory. You need to know what you are doing. I will add that if it's a rather long description, sometimes I put "See Activity Sheet" or something.

Estimated Time: You know how long your meetings are, so why not track the time for each thing to make sure you don't have too much or too little planned. You can always let things run over time or under time.

Leader: With the girls leading meetings and splitting badges, it helps to know who is doing what. So, I list it or have them list it.

Supplies: Always good to know what you need. I try to keep "fluff" out of this column, so when I go shopping for supplies or it's time to gather supplies, I can quickly look down a list of things needed.

I hope this helps save time and energy. If your girls are still young and aren't at the point of planning the whole meeting, then use it for yourself and for assigning other volunteers tasks at your meetings!

Completed plans are also great to start building and saving and sharing with your Leader friends... they will give you great big hugs.

Note: You can also use this for Event Planning... Instead of requirements to complete, use it for Stations at your event.